The Courtship of Eddie's Father is an American television sitcom based on the 1963 movie of the same name, which was based on the book written by Mark Toby (edited by Dorothy Wilson). It tells the story of a widower, Tom Corbett (played by Bill Bixby), who is a magazine publisher, and his son, Eddie (played by Brandon Cruz), who believes his father should marry, and manipulates situations surrounding the women his father is interested in. ABC had acquired the rights to the story; the series debuted on September 17, 1969, and was last broadcast on March 1, 1972.

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Comedy producer James Komack served as both the creator and the executive producer of the show. The television show's theme song, "Best Friend", was written and performed by Harry Nilsson, and was played over opening credits showing Bixby and Cruz in various happy moments. The song has often been used since that time as an iconic indication of father-son bonding.

The show centered on Tom Corbett (Bill Bixby), a handsome, thirty-something magazine publisher and widower from Los Angeles. Following the death of his wife Helen, Tom is left to raise his mischievous, freckle-faced son, six-year-old Eddie (Brandon Cruz). Eddie wants a new mother. To that end, he cleverly manipulates his father's relationships with women, sometimes even trying to set his father up to fall for women Eddie knows and likes first. The father-son duo's domestic arrangements are managed, with great competence and discretion, by their Japanese housekeeper, Mrs. Livingston (Miyoshi Umeki). Her low-key diplomacy and sage advice add to the comedic mix in situations where she looks after Eddie, and sometimes helps him further his schemes to marry off his father and find a new mother. One of Mrs, Livingston's most endearing peculiarities is her habit of addressing her nominal employer as "Mr. Eddie's Father", which hints at who she considers to be the more important member of the pair under her care. Characters from Tom Corbett's office included Tina Rickles (Kristina Holland), as his secretary, and Norman Tinker (James Komack), as the magazine's photographer and token radical. Norman, who was also a family man, occasionally served as Eddie's honorary uncle.

In 1970, Bill Bixby made his debut as a director, going on to direct eight episodes of the show.

The show was cancelled in 1972, when Bixby had a falling out with James Komack over the show's direction. Many of the later episodes focused on Norman, Tom, and Eddie rather than on the relationship between Tom and Eddie. Years after the show was cancelled, it became quietly popular as reruns in syndication.

As early as 1999, Entertainment Weekly reported plans for Nicolas Cage to star in and produce a feature film remake of the series.[2] In a 2011 interview, Brandon Cruz believed Cage was likely no longer interested in the project because Cage's son Weston, who would have played Eddie, had grown too old for the part.[3]

In 2003, filming began on a new television pilot which starred Ken Marino and Josh Hutcherson, but it was not picked up by a network. The child star of the previous series, Brandon Cruz, played a supporting role.